SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A garbage burner that produces electricity along Interstate 5 in the Willamette Valley must meet new, stricter pollution requirements as it renews its air pollution permit.
The Salem Statesman Journal (http://stjr.nl/Ihc4B4) reports the Covanta Marion incinerator north of Salem burns an average of 550 tons of garbage and medical waste a day to produce 13 megawatts of power.
The paper says the new permit adds limits for fine particulate matter and greenhouse gas emissions and tightens limits on other pollutants.
State, local and plant officials say they don’t expect the plant will have to make any pollution control modifications — Marion County taxpayers would be on the hook for the cost of those. A spokesman for the company says it already operates within the new limits.
